Narodowe Siły Zbrojne (EnglishNational Armed Forces, NSZ) was one of the Polish armed underground guerilla organizations, fighting Nazi German occupation in General Government.
The NSZ has been accused of chauvinism and anti-Semitism, however this has been proven to be communist propaganda. Some historians believe that the NSZ murdered hundreds of Jews who sought refuge in the forests. NSZ itself underlined, that it fought with Soviet partisants, many of them of Jewish origin. It also fought with the Polish communist partisans of Armia Ludowa (AL). Thanks to the policy of non-cooperation with the Soviets and unlike Home Army (AK), that was completely transparent to Soviet security services, NSZ remained a military and political power when Poland was taken over by the Red Army. The NSZ struggled against the new regime, while allegedly continuing to murder Holocaust survivors, whose as NSZ believed were the base for communist government. The members of NSZ were persecuted in the stalinist years after the war.
NSZ was created on September 20th, 1942. It reached about 70,000 members. Part of NSZ joined the Armia Krajowa in March 1944. NSZ units took part in the Warsaw Uprising. In January 1945, the NSZ Holy Cross Mountains Brigade (Brygada Świętokrzyska) retreated before the Red Army with the Germans approval, into the German protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. It, however, fought against Germans again in May 5th, 1945 in Bohemia, when NSZ freed women from a concentration camp in Holiszowo. The brigade suffered heavy casualties.
Part of NSZ joined the Armia Krajowa in March 1944, where after the faction that did not join was known as NSZ-ZJ (after "Zwiazek Jaszczurczy" or the "Salamander Union").
NSZ was formed in March of 2000, when the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) decided to spray insecticide on a square mile covering Ballard, Magnolia, and Salmon Bay.
In a short time, NSZ was able to convince all the legislators from the affected district that the spraying was a bad idea.
NSZ has been active lobbying the legislature to pass bills making it harder to spray poison over urban areas and to reveal the hidden content of pesticides.